Dedham man runs Boston Marathon sixth time

John Hadcock might have never discovered a passion for running if it werenít for Sunny, a Vizsla Hungarian pointer.

He was 39, weighed 190, and he was out of shape, he said.

Sunny, on the other hand, was a very energetic puppy. When Hadcockís wife gave him an ultimatum to either calm Sunny down or return her to the breeder, Hadcock came up with a solution.

Running.

"I said, Ďwell, I canít lose the first dog that Iíve ever had.í So, I started running with her and I couldnít even run a mile," the Dedham resident recalled.

Now, 16 years later, Hadcock, 55, is training for yet another Boston Marathon.

He recently sat down with the Transcript and talked about his rigorous training regimen, last yearís bombings near the finish line, and why he decided to run a sixth Boston Marathon.

After last yearís events, why did you decide to run the marathon again?

I wasnít planning on running this year. I think this year for many of us, not just in the running community, but in the Boston community, itís personal. Itís personal for me in a lot of different levels. One, a lot of my friends didnít get to finish, but more importantly, a lot of my friends and my friendsí family members were impacted on a very different level.

One of my co-workersí wives lost a leg in the explosion. It really hit home for me, not just that, but also the subsequent actions they took afterwards.

I went into work the Friday morning after the bombing and they still hadnít caught the two alleged bombers. All of Cambridge and Boston was on lock down Ö so I just drive in. I never drive in.

I drive in; I get to work. I get to my building and the security guard says, Ďwhy are you here? The city is in lockdown.í I said Ďoh,í and thereís a lot of police action around. It turns out that the MIT cop was shot to death 100 yards from the entrance of my building.

At that point, he said, Ďwell, you canít leave now.í So I said, ĎO.K., Iíll wait a while.í Then, my wife called and said ĎJohn, youíve got to come home now.í So, matching to a higher authority, I got in my car and drove.

Then, I got home and the scariest part happened. Iím watching CNN and where the alleged younger bomber went to school. He went to UMASS-Dartmouth, and up on CNN, they show my sonís residence hall. He was in the same residence hall as the younger alleged bomber.

Page 2 of 3 - Five minutes after seeing that on CNN, I get a text from my son saying, Ďoh, we had a fire drill. Iím just standing outsideí Ö I was more worried about my son than me.

So, why run again?

Why am I running? For several reasons. Most of us, whether itís the runners or the spectators, it goes back to being Boston Strong. Weíre not going to let this deter us from doing anything.

Obviously, we donít want to get hurt; we donít want to put peopleís lives in jeopardy. But, we also donít want to live in fear. We want to come back and show that weíre going to do this, and for me, thatís the most important thing.

Where do you get your inspiration to run?

My running club. Iíve been in the Boston area for almost four years, and almost three years ago to the day, I joined the Cambridge Running Club. Weíre probably the nerdiest running club in the world. Everybody is super smart, super nice, super social. Itís my family away from my family.

When I first moved up here, my family was away. They were still living in Connecticut while my twins were finishing up high school, so they became my family up here. It was really nice. Theyíre so welcoming. It doesnít matter whether youíre a fast runner, slow runner, recreational runner. Itís all about just being social and enjoying life. Not that weíre not competitive. We like to be competitive, but itís a lot of fun.

Then, my other big inspiration is my family.

Whatís the toughest part about running?

I love running. The toughest part about running is when you have to train day in and day out for a marathon. At this point in time, Iím not running for fun, which is what I like to do. Now, Iím really running to train and be my best. Itís such a tight routine and a regimented routine that itís tough sometimes getting out there and having to do a very specific workout, especially six days a week.

What does your training regimen look like?

Iím old, so I canít run the mileage that I used to run. I started my training 16 weeks before the marathon date, which was in December. I average about 55 miles per week. I run six days a week, and I always do my long runs (up to 20 miles) on Saturday mornings with the running club, which is great, lots of different routes.

Then, I also do a lot of speed workouts. I will go to the track, and I will do 10 repeats of a half a mile per repeat. Each one of those (is) half a mile at a six-minute per mile pace, followed by a recovery run at about eight-minute per mile pace. So, Iíll do 10 of those.

Page 3 of 3 - Then, I do hill repeats, so I run up and down hills over at Beacon Hill in Boston. Iíll do 10 of those, not all on the same day. Iíll do three hard workouts a week, and Iíll do three easy workouts a week.

Itís the peopleóthe spectators and other runners. We pick each other up; motivate each other. The students of Wellesley are unbelievable. You can hear them easily a mile away. Thatís how loud they are, and the same thing with the Boston College students. Itís thanking the spectators, and as importantly the volunteers.

What do you do when youíre not running?

I do work. I work for Novartis Pharmaceuticals. I do drug discovery for cardiovascular metabolic diseases.

Staff writer Sara Feijo can be reached at 781-433-8336 or sfeijo@wickedlocal.com.† Follow @s_fjo on Twitter. Like The Dedham Transcript on Facebook and follow @DedhamTranscrip on Twitter.